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An anonymous reader writes with an update on the fate of the GOCE satellite. From the article: "The mystery of GOCE's re-entry has now been solved — the one-ton satellite came down over the Falkland Islands, a British overseas territory 300 miles east of the Patagonian coast in the South Atlantic Ocean."

I have to point out that, unless you've been handed that tinfoil hat from your great-grandfather, you're likely wearing aluminum foil. Brain waves are actually transparent to Aluminum foil and essentially make it easier for Them to hear, whereas Tin foil shields your brain-waves from Them. I don't mean to scare you or anything, but I figured that if you really value your privacy you ought to know.

Brain waves are actually transparent to Aluminum foil and essentially make it easier for Them to hear, whereas Tin foil shields your brain-waves from Them. I don't mean to scare you or anything, but I figured that if you really value your privacy you ought to know.

Science fail. They're both metal. Both would act as antennas unless grounded. Conversely, it would also make it easier for you to tune into Their thoughts. But let's be honest... you really don't want that. It's like googling for something innocent and getting a face full of porn and then having your boss walk by at that exact moment.

um... hate to tell you this, but MHT had absolutely nothing to do with that. It was down to Reagan challenging Gorbachev to tear down the wall and popularist reaction to that challenge in physically tearing the wall down that ended the cold war. Thatcher was too busy going senile after not only sending our entire naval force to the Falklands to beat the shit out of the "brown bastards" who had the brass neck to claim back their territory which had previously been *annexed* in the name of the Empire, she sta

When the Argentinians return Argentina to the control of the natives they took Argentina from by force, then perhaps they might have a point (and not a very good one - who did the British take the Falklands from by force? No one actually lived on those islands when the British first settled there). The Falklands haven't ever been Argentinian, and furthermore the Spanish name for them (Las Malvinas) isn't even Spanish, it's derived from French (the French explorer Louis Antoine de Bougainville gave them the name îles Malouines derived from the name Saint-Malo in France, which became Las Malvinas in Spanish).

Saying Argentina should have them because they are close to Argentina is like saying Puerto Rico should be given to Cuba because it's closer to Cuba than the USA.

"Pretty much the same as Gibraltar, no? The dutch gave it to England... except it wasn't theirs to give."

Sure, but it's not Britain making the argument is it? It's Argentina.

"And if you think the UK, which has both economical (oil) and strategical (military bases) in the Malvinas would even think of letting the islanders have any real control over the islands, you're a fool."

Been swallowing your nation's propaganda I see. Tell me, what exactly do you expect us to do with a military base in the South Atlanti

I think he's referring to the fact that when the Spanish left the British took control again, but that ignores the fact that the Spanish had already taken it from Britain/France in the first place.

So the argument is self-defeating anyway, if you argue that it's wrong for Britain to claim it back from Spanish rule after they left and told Argentina they could have it because you believe it's wrong to seize by force then you also have to accept that it was wrong for the Spanish to claim it from the original A

Most Argies don't give a fuck about those islands. However, they're a convenient excuse from Argentinian government to shift focus from whatever current problem the country has to the same old nationalist babble.

It's like that in the whole Latin America, by the way... just with different "targets".

It's like that in the whole Latin America, by the way... just with different "targets".

Not just Latin America. It's a favoured tactic of politicians the world over. Why do something about a real problem (that's expensive and might not work!) when you can stir up fuss and bother about foreigners?

I'm form Argentina and I've got to say it's insulting the way they use this. They not only just focuses on the target for a few months (furiously I may say) but appeal on feelings like patriotism, because the target ALWAYS want to destroy the country and the democracy. (resemble other country of America?)

Both sides assert that the islands are theirs because it's popular. Everyone likes to see their country have shiny things, especially if it means getting one over on another country. And it's a convenient (yuck) patriotic distraction from the governments' other failings. And the war made it much harder for their to be any sort of peaceful settlement...when hundreds of people die defending something it gets a lot harder for politicians to explain wanting to go back on their earlier position. (I think people

Ah yes because human populations and are trumped by position and people have no right to self determination, that is except for those people that Argentina does not want to murder or dispossess of their homes.....

That time the war was to distract the population from internal problems. The Argentinian government didn't think England would care enough to have people die for the land (by then no oil had been found). As everyone knows, they were wrong. Imagine the moment they realised the situation they got themselves in, and with absolutely nobody else to blame.That said, the land should belong to Argentina. It's too problematic for the countries in the region for England to have land there. Of course, it'd be disavant

Those discussions are dumb and they seem to ignore the will of the people who live there. They do not want to be argentinians and they also are not that much fans of british interventions. That place is paradise for people who wants to live a simple life.It sounds even more dumb if you consider the fact that Argentina can't even hold their shit together. They should fix their stuff before bragging about rights to that place.

If it was an occupation I would agree wholeheartedly. However if what I am reading is correct the people (mostly of European decent) currently living there have been doing so for around 200 years. Even the first known settlement, around 323 years ago, was of English origin. A referendum held in march of this year had a 99.8% vote to remain a colony of the UK. People should have the ability to associate with others based on their own determination, not geographic location.

Ah yes, because the stupid evils of the past generations of another country are automatically shared and agreed with by all of the current generations of that country and for that reason when any other nation decides to imitate those past generations in their evil they get a free pass for murder.....

Why should it belong to Argentina? No Argentinians live there. Just because it's close to Argentina isn't a justification (or perhaps the US should give Puerto Rico to Cuba because PR is closer to Cuba than it is to the USA). What's important is the population, now established for a couple of centuries, is British and wants to remain that way. They have the right to self-determination.

The Spanish name (Las Malvinas) isn't even Spanish, it's actually derived from French. A French sailor named the islands after the port of Saint Malo in France.

If the Argentinans want to argue that the British originally took it by force (from whom? no one was living there) then they need to return Argentina back to the native people they took Argentina from before taking that particular "moral high ground".

Patagonia has the 3rd largest Welsh speaking population in the world after Wales and England. Maybe Patagonia should be part of Wales, and it is after all only 300 miles away from the Falklands which is British.

Someone was way off, I thought I read something this morning putting its demise somewhere around Siberia/Alaska? I'm also surprised anyone saw it, the Falkland Islands aren't exactly populated. I think its somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,000 people, the average 36 square mile county has that around me and the Falkland Islands are over 4,700 square miles.

Besides being close geographically what claim does Argentina have to the Falklands? At least from what I can find the only time that its population was primarily Argentinian was back around 1774-1811 when the British and Spanish (originally French) settlements were temporarily abandoned (fear of war?) until roughly the 1840s when the British settlements were reestablished. Before the Europeans colonized the islands there may have been some preh

Argentina believes that the French claim which was passed on to Spain was passed, in turn, to them as part of their becoming independent from Spain in 1816.

And it appears that the French claim may have pre-dated the English one by a couple of years if you're going by establishment of settlements instead of "was sailing along one day and found these islands which no one rushed to occupy".

Thats splitting the hair mighty thin, a couple year difference that occurred almost 200 years ago. Especially when there seemed to be absolutely no interest in the islands until the Europeans began colonizing them.

If they relinquished their rights to Spain in 1766, then what can they say about it now? That they actually had no rights back then and therefore defrauded Spain? Hardly a testament to their credibility.

Falkland Islands, or Islas Malvinas, as the Argentine people call them, are disputed territory. British forces usurped the islands from the Argentine authorities in the first half of the 19th century. OK, a stupid military government went to war to try to divert the attention of the Argentine citizens form the internal problems. And thanks to their military defeat democracy finally returned (18 months after the start of the war). But still, Argentina has the right to ask to have them back.

I dearly hope I'm not the only slashdotter who hangs around the UN, so that someone else can back me up on this.

Quite often, in the course of a meeting on something-or-other at the UN, subject-matter experts will be brought in for panel presentations.

Not terribly infrequently, one of the English-speaking experts, not knowing any better, will include a map of whatever (squid fisheries was the last one I personally recall) showing the Falkland Islands.